594 OPHIDIA 



CHAP. 



otics, owing to the absence of squamosal bones. The prefrontals 

 are in lateral contact with the nasals. There are vestis;es of the 

 pelvis, reduced to a single bone on eacli side. The eyes are 

 hidden by shields of the skin. 



The Typhlopidae, mainly composed of the genus Typhlo^js, with 

 about one hundred species, are undoubtedly the last living descend- 

 ants of formerly cosmopolitan, rather archaic, snakes, which in 

 adaptation to their burrowing life and insectivorous diet have 

 undergone degradation. They are still widely distributed in all 

 tropical and sub-tropical countries, some on the solitary Christmas 

 Island, but not in New Zealand. . One species, 2\ vermicularis, 

 inhabits the Balkan Peninsula and South-West Asia. It is 

 brown above, yellowish below, and reaches a length of 

 about 10 inches. The tail is extremely short and ends in a 

 horny spine. T. hraminus is widely distributed in Southern 

 Asia, the Malay Islands, the islands in the Indian Ocean and in 

 Southern Africa. 



Fam. 2. Glauconiidae. — -In most respects resembling the 

 Typhlopidae, but the maxillaries retain their normal position and 

 are toothless, teeth being restricted to the lower jaw, which is 

 stout and short. The pelvic girdle and the hind-limbs show the 

 least reduction found in any recent Snakes ; in the pelvis the 

 ilia, pubes, and ischia can still be distinguished, the last even 

 retaining tlieir symphysis ; there are also vestiges of femurs. 

 About thirty species, nearly all belonging to the genus Glaucoma, 

 are found in South-Western Asia, Africa, and the warmer parts 

 of America, including the West Indies. 



Fam. 3. Ilysiidae. — The scales of the cylindrical body are 

 smooth and small, those on the ventral side are scarcely larger. 

 The tail is extremely short and l)lunt. The head is very small, 

 nut distinct from the neck. The gape of the mouth is very 

 narrow. Teeth are carried by the mandibles, the pterygoids, 

 palatines, maxillaries, and one or two or more by the premaxillae. 

 The endopterygoids are short. An important cranial featm-e is 

 tlie short quadrates, which stand rather vertically and are con- 

 nected witli the cranium by the squamosals ; these are very 

 small and are firndy wedged in between the upper ends of the 

 ([uadrates and the pro-otic, lateral, and supra-occipital bones ; still 

 forming part of the cranial wall. Vestiges of the pelvis and 

 hind-limbs are very incomplete, and terminate in claw-like spurs, 



